Joshlin Smith trial: WC High Court to hand down judgement

SALDANHA BAY - Missing girl Joshlin Smith's mother and her co-accused are set to hear their fates on Friday when judgment is handed down to bring the trial to a conclusion.

State prosecutors and defence attorneys wrapped up their closing arguments in the Joshlin Smith trial this week.

Joshlin's mother, Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and his friend, Stevano van Rhyn, are charged with kidnapping and human trafficking for the little girl's disappearance.

Defence attorneys representing the accused believe the State has a weak case against their clients.

This week, lawyers for Smith, Appollis and van Rhyn centred their closing arguments around the credibility of the State's main witness - Lourencia Lombaard.

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Lombaard implicated Appollis and van Rhyn in Smith's alleged plot to sell Joshlin to a sangoma for R20,000 .
However, the former accused buckled under cross-examination and often refused to answer questions during her testimony.

The State showed the court how details in Lombaard's testimony, relating to the R20,000 for Joshlin, are corroborated in the confession statement of Appollis and the testimony of another State witness, Steven Coetzee.

Prosecutor Zelda Swanepoel said the accused's decision not to testify could also prove pivotal to Judge Nathan Erasmus' ruling.

Erasmus is expected to deliver his judgment.